PUC pick

Sunday

Jun 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Governor Chafee has done well to pick former U.S. Atty. Margaret (“Meg”) Curran to succeed Elia Germani as chair of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission. The PUC regulates natural gas, electricity...

Governor Chafee has done well to pick former U.S. Atty. Margaret (“Meg”) Curran to succeed Elia Germani as chair of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission. The PUC regulates natural gas, electricity distribution and water.

The agency will be very busy in the next few years dealing with the implications of natural-gas fracking and the expansion of such “green” energy as wind and solar as they continue to change energy economics. Meanwhile, the state’s aging drinking-water infrastructure will require upgrades, presumably with pressure from the PUC. Ms. Curran, originally trained as zoologist, also understands environmental matters, which play a part in many utility issues.

Meg Curran has great integrity, is a fine lawyer, has top-notch management skills and the knowledge of market economics and regulatory law that you’d want in a PUC leader. Her civic-mindedness is well known. She has shone in such thankless tasks as chairing the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange’s board, serving on the state Parole Board and being an ethics monitor of Roger Williams Medical Center after a corruption scandal there.

We think that she will do a stellar job in her new post, too.

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